This article was written on August 25, 2007 by CyberNet.
Weekend Website
Today’s featured website isn’t one that is going to be useful to everybody, at least not yet. The site is Hitchsters and it was chosen because it’s a great idea that could end up saving travelers money should they expand. Currently it’s available in New York City, and starting August 27th it will be available in Brooklyn. Hopefully they’ll be adding the service to other cities soon, which they’ve promised.
—What is Hitchsters.com?—
Hitchsters is a web-based system that will connect a traveler with another traveler on the same flight to share a taxi either to or from the airport to save money. In other words, it’s a matchmaker! If you’ve taken a taxi before, you know that it can get a little pricey. The whole idea of sharing a taxi with someone on the same flight is great because then you’ll never have to be waiting around for someone on another flight. And if there’s a delay, well, your co-traveler will be delayed too! They’re on the same flight.
Now, as mentioned, this service can be used either to or from the airport. When you’re going to the airport, if you live in the same area as another traveler and you’re taking the same flight, Hitchsters would match you together. They also offer the option to select a “gender preference.” If you’d only rather ride with a guy, they’ll do their best to meet that request. You can either select that it’s a preference and that if it doesn’t work, you’d be okay riding with either gender, or you can select that you “must” ride with a specific gender otherwise you’ll ride alone.
—How to use it—
Using Hitchsters is divided up into four simple steps.
- Enter your flight time or the time you’ll be wanting to hail a cab
- Hitchsters with find a match so that you’ll have a co-rider
- Once you’ve been matched, you’ll receive an email or text message with the pertinent information of your co-rider. Only a first name is given for security purposes
- Contact your co-rider so you can share the cab
—Hitchsters Etiquette—
As you can imagine, this service relies on people who follow through with their plans. If you back out at the last minute, this service is hardly useful. So, one of the first things to keep in mind is to not leave people hanging.
Another “rule” is that the first person who gets out of the cab will pay 60% of the fare. That means one of you will need to agree to get out first. They say that if you can’t figure out who should get out first, it’s a simple solution: rock/paper/scissors. 
Hitchsters relies on the co-riders being able to communicate with each other, particularly for those using a taxi service when leaving the airport. That’s why it’ll be important to keep a cell-phone charged and ready to use so that once landed, you’ll be able to arrange to meet-up and get a cab.
—Wrapping it up—
If you’ve been to New York City, you know that taking a cab can run you as much as $100 depending on where you’re going. By the time you pay that fee to and from the airport, you’ve almost spent as much on the cab as you have for your airfare. Hitchsters is for smart people who just want to save some money. With little work involved to find a co-rider via Hitchsters, there’s no reason not to use it!
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